Good in many ways, but you’re really paying for the Apple-like design.

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Huawei has been slowly pushing its way into the PC market. Its first attempt came in the $699 Matebook, a two-in-one device that couldn't stand up to similar devices due to its lackluster performance, bad battery life, and tendency to overheat.

While in the same device family, the new Matebook X is very different from the original Matebook. It's a true Windows ultrabook whose design inspiration borrows heavily from Apple. With its super-thin frame, brushed metal finish, and overall minimalistic construction, the Matebook is challenging Apple's MacBook not only in design, but in performance as well. The Matebook supports up to a Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 512GB SSD. But Huawei has to prove that all the power it has packed into the tiny laptop can make the Matebook X a better option than other competing Windows notebooks.

Look and feel

You don't need a blindfold over your eyes to confuse the Matebook X for Apple's MacBook. The 13-inch notebook borrows from Apple's minimalist design language, including its all-metal design, satin finish, chiclet keyboard, spacious trackpad, and overall thin-and-light profile. Huawei's Matebook X comes in space gray, "prestige" gold (slightly warmer and more bronzy than most golds), and rose gold, which is a special color for the Chinese market. Ars was sent a rose gold model to review, and its rich rosiness is a pleasant change from the light, sometimes washed-out rose gold finishes we've seen on other consumer electronics.

Further Reading

At 12.mm, the Matebook is a hair thicker than the 11.04mm MacBook, and it weighs 2.31 pounds, or slightly more than the 2.06-pound MacBook. Aside from the Huawei logo in place of where Apple's logo would be on the lid, the dead giveaway that the Matebook is indeed a non-Apple device is the second USB Type-C port on its right side. While the MacBook has a single USB Type-C port on its left edge, Huawei put one on either side of the Matebook: the left port supports data transfer and charging, while the right port supports data transfer and connects to the included MateDock 2.

I appreciate the inclusion of the dock in the box, because, while two USB Type-C ports are better than one (and yet neither are Thunderbolt), you still only have two options to work with. The MateDock 2 has another USB Type-C port, a USB Type-A port, an HDMI port, and a VGA port, giving you additional ways to connect displays and peripherals and transfer data.

The only thing I wish the Matebook X had was the ability to charge using either USB Type-C port. It's hit or miss now with devices that let you do this—on some you can use any Type-C port to charge, on others you can't. But using a device is always easier when you know you can stick the charging cable into any of the Type-C ports available and the device will charge up.

The noticeable differences between the Matebook and the MacBook continue when you open the Matebook X's lid. There you will find a 13-inch 2160×1440 display surrounded by 4.4mm bezels. The MacBook has a 12-inch display, so it starts off smaller, but the slim bezels around the MateBook X's screen make the MacBook look even smaller in comparison. The Matebook's display has a 3:2 aspect ratio, giving you more vertical space and making the screen look almost too large for the notebook's frame.

Further Reading

Both the Matebook X and the MacBook are fanless notebooks, but Huawei managed to put U-series Core i5 and i7 CPUs in its device (the 2017 MacBook has a Y-series Core M). Considering the U-series processor typically needs more power and a fan to support it, the combination is impressive, and the sans-fan design should keep the notebook silent without compromising power. Huawei also touts the notebook's "microencapsulated phase change material" construction, which is a fancy way of saying its material should keep it from overheating. In the time I've spent with the MateBook X, it has been incredibly silent, and, while the bottom-middle of the chassis definitely gets warm, it has never been too hot on my lap.

The Matebook X's slim design is also impressive considering Huawei worked with Dolby to design a speaker system for the notebook. Each speaker has two motors and directs sound up at you with an upward-ring configuration. The companies claim the set-up is louder, clearer, and has better bass performance thanks to the speakers' position, narrow design, and improved air flow.

The difference was immediately noticeable compared to the speakers on my MacBook Air: music on the Matebook X was louder by default—loud enough to fill a room, but not loud enough for me to hear a song clearly and robustly from two rooms away—and everything had more punch to it. The highs and mids were clearer, the bass was more prominent, and vocals weren't drowned out at all.

The pre-installed Dolby Atmos Sound system program lets you switch between sound profiles depending on the content you're playing. There are prefab profiles for music, movies, games, and voice, as well as a "personalize" profile that lets you adjust the equalizer yourself. A "dynamic" profile "identifies the content and performs automatic adjustments to deliver the best sound."

I often hopped back and forth between the dynamic and music profiles because I couldn't decide which I liked better. The main difference between them was that the dynamic profile really boosted the volume and clarity of a track's background instruments, while the music profile put vocals and instrumentals on the same level. Overall the sound quality of the Matebook X with the Dolby speakers is great for such a slim laptop and a great perk for those who often have desk jam sessions using their notebooks.

Huawei's Matebook X in rose gold.

It's just 12.5 mm thick.

One of two USB Type-C ports.

Second USB Type-C port with headphone jack.

The design looks strikingly like Apple's MacBook.

Speaker at the top of the keyboard.

4.4mm bezels surround the sides of the screen.

Included MateDock 2.

The Matebook X has an extra USB port, a Type-C port, an HDMI port, and a VGA port.

Keyboard, trackpad, and fingerprint sensor

The full-sized, auto-backlit, chiclet keyboard takes up most of the space on the chassis, and it looks and feels much like the MacBook's keyboard (though the keys here are color-matched to the laptop instead of being white-on-black, as the MacBook keyboards all are). The keys are larger than those on my MacBook Air, and their 1.2mm of travel is shallower than I'm used to. That didn't get in the way of my typing, though, and it was comfortable to type on for long periods of time. However, if you're not accustomed to the Matebook's keyboard layout, the shallow travel may take a while to get used to. The keys are also firm enough for you to know when you've pressed them fully, so there shouldn't be much input confusion on the user's part.

Above the keyboard is the speaker grill, and at the top-right corner of the chassis is the power button and integrated fingerprint sensor. I like that the button is surrounded by a diamond-cut edge, as it matches the accents on the other edges of the device and makes it stand out more than other power buttons. Huawei made the power button a Windows Hello-ready fingerprint sensor so you can turn on the Matebook X and log in at the same time. This works quite well: it only took about five seconds for the notebook to turn on and sign me into my account, all from one press of the power button. The fingerprint sensor is the only Windows Hello biometric option you have, as the Matebook X only has a webcam and no IR camera for facial recognition.

As I mentioned previously, I like that the trackpad actually clicks in addition to reading my fingers' soft taps, but often the trackpad produces a delay in basic cursor movement. It's a Precision Touchpad, so it does support the full range of Windows gestures, but every other time I swiped or used my finger to move the cursor across the screen, there was a split-second delay between my finger's movement and the cursor moving.

Full-sized keyboard and trackpad.

Power button with integrated fingerprint sensor.

The trackpad physically clicks and is fairly spacious.

Chiclet-style keys with 1.2mm travel.

Software

Windows 10 Pro is pretty clean on the Matebook X. The two main programs Huawei installed are Dolby's sound-changing software, to accompany the speakers, and the Matebook Manager. Manager lets you control the efficiency of the Matebook X by managing backups of your data, updating drivers, and other similar features. There's also a sharing tool that lets you share data from your Matebook X with other devices around you, but it only works with other Huawei devices. This clearly will have more use in Asian markets where Huawei actually sells its smartphones; Huawei doesn't sell many handsets in the US market, so this feature doesn't mean much for anyone buying a Matebook X in the States.

HP has a similar feature for its devices, but it uses an app you can download onto Android and iOS devices to share information between your HP computer and your smartphone or tablet. Huawei missed an opportunity to make its sharing feature accessible in a similar way, which would have made it more useful to a larger group of potential customers.

Performance

Since the MacBook sports a Core m processor, the MateBook X is more in line with Windows devices like the LG Gram when it comes to performance. Our Matebook X has a Core i5-7200U CPU, Intel HD 620 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, so its performance matched that of the Galaxy Book and the Asus Zenbook UX330UA. It performed well on most of our tests, but its storage scores, particularly the 4KB random numbers, were low compared to those of similar devices.

Although our model technically comes with 256GB of storage, you don't actually have that much to work with. Windows takes up a chunk of that (as it does in any Windows PC), but we found three recovery partitions on the disk that take up about 20GB more storage, giving you even less to work with out of the box. While you can delete these partitions, having them there in the first place is archaic.

We also take issue with the base model's 4GB of RAM—it's just not enough to sustain an everyday laptop, particularly one that you may use for both work and play. The 3D Mark Time Spy graphics benchmark we run on all PCs wouldn't run on our Matebook X, and that's likely due to the lack of memory. At around $1,569, the base model is also quite expensive, and you should get more RAM for that price. The other Matebook X model comes with 8GB of RAM, but it's more expensive than our review unit.

Battery life

Inside the Matebook X is a 41.4Whr battery that Huawei claims can last at least 10 hours on a single charge. We found that to be mostly true in our testing, with the Matebook X lasting an average of 585 minutes, or about 9.75 hours, on our default test. The battery also lasted an average of 256 minutes, or about four hours, on our graphics test. While our scores are in line with Huawei's estimates, they're not as good as similar ultrabooks, including the MacBook, which lasts nearly two hours longer, and the HP Spectre 13, which lasts a half hour longer than Huawei's device.

Showing off to those with MacBook envy

If you buy the Huawei Matebook X, you do it because you want a MacBook-style PC that runs Windows. It's a perfectly fine device, and it surpasses Apple's laptop with practical features like the integrated fingerprint sensor, the extra USB Type-C port, and the included MateDock 2. Even if it's a MacBook clone in most aesthetic respects, Huawei more effectively uses that thin-and-light construction by including Core i5 and Core i7 processors, a lovely display with slim side bezels, and a powerful Dolby speaker system.

But this device doesn't run OS X, and one of the biggest reasons you'd buy the MacBook is for Apple's software. The Matebook X is a solid Windows device—but it's too expensive for what it's worth compared to other Windows notebooks. Huawei hasn't officially finalized the pricing, but the X was priced at about €1,399 (or $1,569) at the time of its reveal. Plenty of Windows devices, both with and without high-fashion designs, will perform similarly (if not better) than the MateBook X for a lower price.

Asus' $700 Zenbook UX330UA is a good example: while it doesn't look as fancy as the Matebook X, it performs just as well and comes with 8GB of RAM, one USB Type-C port, two USB 3.0 ports, a micro HDMI, and an SD card reader. If you need to have a slick-looking laptop, you can get either the HP Spectre x360 or the Spectre 13 for slightly less than the Matebook X, and both models include Core i7 processors, at least 8GB of RAM, and Thunderbolt ports in that slightly more affordable price. Unless your goal is to make MacBook fans envious, you can skip the Matebook X and opt for a more powerful Windows device at a similar (or lower) price.